Roundup: Anti-govt Insurgents Escalate Violence in Nepal

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, September 05, 2002

Roundup: Anti-govt Insurgents Escalate Violence in Nepal

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With only two months left for the mid-term parliamentary elections slated for November 13 in Nepal, the anti-government insurgents have stepped up their violent activities across the Himalayan kingdom.

Bomb explosions and scares have been recurrent in different parts of Nepal since the nine-month-long nationwide state of emergency expired on August 28.

In the Kathmandu Valley, at least five major incidents of bomb explosion occurred in recent days. Two people were injured when a bomb exploded on August 28 at a supermarket in the center of Kathmandu city. A soldier was killed in a bomb explosion on the next day in Lalitpur district in the Kathmandu Valley. Two bomb incidents happened separately at the municipality in Lalitpur district and a shop in Kathmandu city on the following days. And another explosive device went off on Sept. 4 at the Kathmandu metropolitan office.

The anti-government guerrillas have also stepped up their violent activities in other parts of the country in recent days. Many activists of the ruling Nepali Congress party as well as other political parties have been murdered, several buildings bombed or set on fire.

In an exclusive interview to independent English daily The Kathmandu Post, published on September 4, one of the leaders of the underground anti-government insurgents said they would totallydisrupt the mid-term parliamentary elections by violent measures.

The British Embassy to Nepal warned its citizens on August 29 of the increasing anti-government offensives in Nepal and advised British nationals to avoid areas cordoned off by the Nepali security personnel.

The embassy's statement said, "Intelligence assessments suggest that the anti-government guerrillas may be preparing to begin an urban campaign in support of their rural activities."

Similarly, the State Department of the United States also warned that following a spate of recent bomb attacks, there were "heightened risks to American citizens and American interests from the anti-government insurgency in Nepal, especially outside the Kathmandu Valley."

The US State Department noted in a public announcement on September 3 that the anti-government insurgents are plotting new violence in Nepal ahead of the general strike or "bandh" they havedeclared for September 16.

The Nepali government is mulling to re-impose the state of emergency in an attempt to maintain the law and order in the country. Meanwhile, Nepali Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba said that he would consult with all those concerned including the political parties on whether the state of emergency needs to be extended.

Deuba aborted his planned trip to Johannesburg for the World Summit on Sustainable Development and rushed to home in view of the tension in his country after his nine-day visit in Europe.

The Nepali government imposed the state of emergency in the Himalayan Kingdom on Nov. 26 last year after the anti-government guerrillas unilaterally broke a four-month-long cease-fire talks with the government and attacked the army barracks and police posts.

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